Swing bridge and protective gate therefor



April Z0, 1954 A. r-'osHAYA 2,675,569 v SWING ,BRIDGE AND PROTECTIVE GATE THEREFOR Filed March 12, 1951 2 sheets-*sheet 1 ATTORNEYS.

April 20, 1954 A. FosHAY 2,675,569'

SWING BRIDGE AND PROTECTIVE GATE THEREFOR Filed March 12, 1951 2 sheets-sneet 2 zfrie may@ INVENTOR BY /l f "f ATTORNEYS i Patented Apr. 20, 1954 UNITED STATES TENT OFFICE SWING BRIDGE AND PROTECTIVE GATE THEREFOR 1 claim. l

This invention relates to a gate or guard wall construction for a bridge of the horizontally swinging draw type.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a gate construction as described wherein initial opening movement of the span will automatically cause the gate to rise instantaneously to blocking position, and to remain in said position as long as the span is open.

Another important object is to provide a construction as stated wherein movement of the span to closing position will gradually lower the gate, until said gate is fully lowered at the same ime that the span moves to fully closed posi- With the foregoing and other objects in View which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts, hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claim, it being understood that changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

Referring to the drawing Fig. 1 is a top plan view oi a gate and span construction in accordance with the present invention, portions being broken away.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken substanv tially on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary detailed view of a gate mounted wheel.

Fig. 4 is a section taken substantially on line 4-6 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section taken substantially on line 5 5 of Fig. l, the dotted lines indicating the position of the gate when elevated, portions being broken away.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary detailed perspective view of a hinged track section.

Fig. '7 is an enlarged detailed perspective view of another hinged section of the track.

Referring to the drawing in detail, a horizontally swinging draw span i has rotatable movement upon a column 2 formed upon the pier 3, said span having the arcuate end edges i and 5 that have correspondence with, and fit against, the arcuate end edges formed upon the approaches 6 and 1. When the spa-n is in closed position, accordingly, an uninterrupted right of way is provided as seen in Fig. l.

The present invention deals mainly with the provision of an automatic protective gate or guard wall for each approach, that will be automatically elevated when the span l is swung to opened position, so as to prevent movement of traffic into the open space between the approaches.

Accordingly, secured to and depending from the bottom surfaces of the arcuate ends Il and 5 of the span I are vertical supports 8, 9, and It for the arcuate trackways H at opposite ends of said span.

Each trackway il, as readily seen from Figs. 6 and 7 is formed from suitable lengths of angle iron material, each of which is curved longitudinally so that the ends oi said lengths, when butt-welded together, will form longitudinally curved trackways the curvature of which is in correspondence with and alignment with the end t or 5, as the case may be, of the draw span I.

Each trackway, additionally, inclines downwardly from its opposite ends toward the center of the span, as best seen from Figs. 2 and 5, the center portion l2 of each trackway being disposed horizontally and being formed, close to the center` line of the span, with a cut away portion I3 (Fig. 7) proportioned to be closed by a correspondingly shaped downwardly swinging door ifi connected by hinges l5 to the trackway and having welded to its inner end the stop member is engageable when the door swings downwardly by a lug l'i welded to the center portion l2 of said trackway.- When the door l swings upwardly, the stop `member it engages against the horizontal portion l2 of said trackway, so as to limit upward swinging movement oi the door I4 beyond a position in which it is co-planar with the center portion l2 of said trackway.

Adjacentl theouter end of said trackway Il, there is formed in the trackway a cut away portion I8 proportioned to be closed (see Fig. 6) by the swinging door 'is connected by the hinge 213 to said trackway il, upward swinging movement of saidv door I9 being limited by the stop lug 2i welded to -thetrackway l l. Formed on said trackway i! is the upstanding bracket 22 in which is hooked one end of the spring 23, the other end of which is hooked to the door i9.

Bolted or otherwise secured to the bottom edge o the gate '24' is a bearing 24 located at a central point between the opposite side edges of said gate, there being journaled in the bearing 24 the stub shaft '25 extended inwardly and having on its inner end the rotatably mounted wheel 2e. Preferably, the mounting of the wheel 26 upon the stub shaft 25 is by means of a conventional roller bearing so as to assure rotation of the wheel upon the stub shaft with minimum friction.

The shaft 2l, as readily seen from Figs. 3 and 4,

' door I4,

3 extends through a sliding block 2I, which block 27 has its opposite side edges grooved so as to define flanges engageable slidably with the opposite side walls of the closed vertical groove formed in the depending slideway 28 secured to the center of the end edge of either approach.

As seen from Fig. 2, the gate 24' has up and down sliding movement in the slot 29 formed in and extendedtransversely across thefapproaoh or 'I as the case may be, there being secured to the opposite ends of the gate 24 the cables 30 disposed within the upstanding hollow housings 3| formed with the vertical gate-receiyingl slots 32, said cables 30 being trained over the pulleys 33 and having secured to their opposite ends the counterweights 34.

Normally, the gate 24 isretainedin the full line position illustrated in Fig, 5. Howevenassuming that the draw kspan I is swung ilaterally so as to open the space between the approaches, the initial movement of the-draw span willzcause the wheel 26, that .is engaged rollably with the underside of Ithe center portion I2 of the ,trackway, to be permitted-upward movement, las soon as the trackway I I bmoves laterally v.to the extent that the cutaway portion I3 is :positionedover said wheel. This occurs almost instantaneously with'initial movement of the draw span I.

As soon as 'this happens, the zcounterweights 34 are permitted to elevate the gates 24 vimmediately to the vdotted line position illustrated in Fig. 5, so as to prevent the movement of vtraiic past said gates as long as the draw span is Ybeing opened or is in fully'opened'position.

As the gate 24 is 1elevated vvto its uppermost position, the block21 will of vcourse'slide upwardly to themaximum extent .within the closed vslot of the -slideway 28.

As the opening movement of the draw span continues, the outer end ofthe trackway II will engage the elevated wheel 26. However, the Wheel 26 simply vbiases to open position thedoor I9, said open position ofthe door |19 being illustrated in dotted .lines in Fig. 5 and being against the action of the spring v23 that :normally tendsv to close said door.

Assuming now that it is desired to Aclose `the draw span, as the span Vmoves to closing position, the initial portion of the trackway I-I that will engage the wheel l26 will rbe Vthe vunder surfaceMk of the door I9. However, the-door V.I9 will not at this time yield to the wheel 2S, by reason of the presence-of the stop lug 2I Accordingly, as the span swings to closedposition, the downwardly inclined portion of the trackway II will cam the wheel 26 downwardly, carrying with it the gate 24. As the wheel A2b moves over the underside of the :normally -sopen said door will simply vswing 'to itsupper position in which it is ina plane with the remaniing portion of the center part I2 of said trackway.

Thus, when the span nally arrives at fully closed position, the gate 24' will be fully recessed so as to permit once again the passage of trailic over the span.

What is claimed is:

In a swingbridge of the type having spaced approaches and an elongated swing span mounted to move fin a horizontal arcuate path from an Aactive position in which the space between the approaches is closed by the span to an inactive position in which a clear passageway extends between the :span :and the approaches, each of said `approaches having transversely extending recesses opening through their upper surfaces, gates mounted in each of said recesses for vertical Vmovement from extended vertical active positions in which they extend upwardly across their respective approaches to inactive positions in which they lie below the top surfaces of the approaches,

and'means lcarried by the approaches and Aconnected to theresp'ectivegatesformoving:thegates to upwardly extended active position across :the

approaches, meansformoving .the gates to laand retaining them retracted in inactive position below the top surfaces of the approaches, said last named means comprising frollers .carried by the gates below the approaches and movable therewith in vertical paths below the span, vertically extending transverse cam trackways carried by the span adjacent the ends thereof and extending into the paths of movement ofthe vrollers forengaging the rollers and moving them, :said trackways being inclined downwardlyas theyffapproach opposite ends of the span to cause the rollers to move downwardly and Athe .gates .to vmove downwardly into inactive position as the span `:moves to .active position, veach ofsaid trackways Ihaving openings extending therethrough adjacent the lower ends thereof through which the rollers pass upon initial movement of the span toward its open inactive position relative tosaidapproaches, means carried .by the Vtrackways .for engagement by the rollers to close said openings .immediately before the span moves to its fully open active position, said trackways having openings extend- References Cited in thele of this patent UNITED .STATES PATENTS Number Name `Date 457,275 Hanson Aug. 4, 1891 463,313 Grady Nov. 17,1891 309,817 Lardinois Jan. v9, 1906 

